February 13, 2005

100 Things I Love About Comics

Thanks to Mike, we have another comic-related meme – this time, the 100 things we love about comics. I was going to write “Cool pictures” 100 times; however, that wouldn’t be kosher. Plus, this will probably reveal me to be a sad, sad individual. So, hang on kids, here we go, in no particular order.

1. Watchmen – the Sgt. Pepper, All Mod Cons, and Let it Be of comics, wrapped into one book.
2. The Spirit – the Citizen Kane of comics
3. Comics Illustrated – making the classics accessible to those who don’t like literature
4. Batman – the best of the pulp adventurers distilled into one character
5. Superman
6. Dean Motter’s The Prisoner follow-up mini-series (better than the original TV show!)
7. You can reread a comic; you can never re-smoke a cigarette.
8. Sandman Mystery Theater – the Golden Age as written by Raymond Chandler
9. Starman – Jack Knight, Uberfanboy
10. Stan Lee – he’s like your favorite uncle, and your obnoxious uncle, all rolled into one.
11. Jack Kirby
12. D.R. & Quinch – Alan Moore does comedy!
13. Judge Dredd
14. Astro City
15. JLA/JSA Crossovers – the closest thing comics fans had to “blockbusters” in the old days
16. V for Vendetta
17. Comics are cheaper than crack
18. Spider-Man, especially in the 1960’s
19. Fleischer & Aparo’s Spectre in Adventure Comics
20. Fantastic Four, especially in the 1960s
21. Fred Hembeck (is there a number higher than number 1 – otherwise, he’s stuck here. Sorry, Fred)
22. Grant Morrison’s hallucinogenic writing
23. Enigma
24. Concrete
25. Scarab, another long-lost Vertigo series
26. Monkey Covers!
27. American Flagg
28. Phil Foglio’s Angel & the Ape mini-series
29. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
30. Doom Patrol, both in the 1960’s and Morrison’s run
31. Sugar & Spike
32. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2
33. The Avengers/Late Night with David Letterman Crossover Issue
34. All-Star Squadron
35. X-Men (both in the 1960s and the Claremont/Byrne run)
36. Comics give us plenty of humor, especially Mr. McFarlane’s, Liefeld’s and Byrne’s shenanigans
37. Inferior 5
38. Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
39. Marvels
40. Hey, you gotta read something while eating White Castles
41. Kingdom Come
42. X-Men # 29: “Along Came a Spider” – my first (although coverless) comic
43. Milk & Cheese by Evan Dorkin
44. Steve Englehart & Marshall Rogers’ Batman run
45. Dick Dillon’s art on Justice League of America
46. Legion of Super Heroes (at least, until the Zero Hour reboots)
47. Millennium’s Doc Savage series
48. Tim Truman’s Spider mini-series for Eclipse
49. DNAgents
50. Mike W. Barr’s Maze Agency
51. Ex Machina
52. “It’s Clobberin’ Time!”
53. Powers
54. “Where I Come From, Bub, Them’s Fightin’ Words”
55. Planetary
56. O’Neill/Adams’ Green Lantern/Green Arrow run
57. Mike Grell’s art
58. Doctor Who & the Iron Legion (yes, I’m serious, why do you ask?)
59. “Hey, kids! Comics!”
60. Gruenwald’s Squadron Supreme mini-series
61. 80/100 Page Superstar Spectaculars
62. Calvin & Hobbes
63. Those little DC Digests
64. Evanier & Spiegel’s Blackhawk run
65. Crossfire
66. Comics make great bathroom reading
67. Sachs & Violens
68. “Bite Me, Fanboy”
69. Giant typewriters
70. Groo the Wanderer
71. Perez & Wolfman’s New Teen Titans
72. JSA
73. Jim Aparo’s art on The Brave and the Bold
74. The Wit & Wisdom of Sidney Mellon
75. Fanboys are highly entertaining
76. Bloom County
77. Pound for pound, comics provide excellent entertainment value
78. MAD Magazine
79. Eightball
80. The joy of reading a new series
81. Terra-Man!
82. The joy of recommending a comic to someone else
83. Steve Ditko’s Marvel art
84. Hawk & Dove
85. “In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight, let those who worship evil’s might, beware my power – Green Lantern’s Light!”
86. Jim Steranko’s cover to Now’s Green Hornet # 1
87. Adventures of Kavalier & Clay – the best novel about the Golden Age of Comics
88. Invaders – the closest thing Marvel came to a JSA
89. Creature Commandos
90. “In order for the universe to live, (insert name here) must die!
91. Ambush Bug
92. Comic Blogs
93. Judge Dredd
94. 1963
95. Those huge, tabloid-sized comics for $1.00
96. Blue Devil (Hey, I loved that series)
97. “Hulk Smash!”
98. Defenders
99. Someone actually wrote a Vertigo version of Prez
100. Brother Power the Geek

7 comments:

Will Pfeifer said...

Nice list -- and I fondly recall that DR. WHO AND THE IRON LEGION comic Marvel reprinted years ago. Dave Gibbons art, wasn't it?

Gordon D said...

First, welcome!

Yes, it was Dave Gibbons art, and great art at that!

Doctor Sordid said...

Some nice choices there. I think the Iron Legion was the first comic strip (other than the Beano) that I ever read. Strangely, I neglected to mention it on my list.

David Norman said...

Great list; I thought I was the only one who remembered Scarab from way back. Just goes to show the internet is a great thing...

Gordon D said...

Mr. Fiore,

Like I said, the issue was coverless....

Gordon

Greg said...

I'm slow to read all these lists, but they're entertaining! I'm glad someone else mentioned D.R. and Quinch - what a fun comic. I'm a little surprised (not much, but a little) that Maze Agency is so fondly remembered - shouldn't Barr revive it (especially if he gets Hughes on art)? And you do mean Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin on Detective, don't you, not Terry Rogers?

CoffeeJunkee said...

You must REALLY like Judge Dredd.... You listed him twice #13 and #93...Unless one was the movie....PLEASE dont say one was the movie.....

http://coffeejunkeescafe.podcastpeople.com/